'Great Freedom' review: A gay man persever post-war Germany - Los Angel Tim

Contents:

• REVIEW: A PERSECUTED GAY MAN FDS TE LIBERATN BETIFULLY BTERSWEET ‘GREAT FREEDOM’
• ‘GREAT FREEDOM’ PROVIS A RAW, UNPROMISG LOOK AT THE PERSECUTN OF GAY MEN EAST GERMANY
• DON’T OVERLOOK ATRIA’S GAY PRISON DRAMA ‘GREAT FREEDOM’ THE INTERNATNAL OSR RACE
• DON’T OVERLOOK ATRIA’S GAY PRISON DRAMA ‘GREAT FREEDOM’ THE INTERNATNAL OSR RACE
• WHO IS FRANZ GAYL, THE PENTAGON WORKER TAKG HEAT FOR OP-EDS CHE STATE MEDIA?
• ANTEL, FRANZ, 1913-2007. OTTO IST F FREN SCHARF, ALSO KNOWN AS OTTO, THE GAY LOTHAR. ATRIA, GERMANY (WT), 1968., 1968.
• 10 GREAT FRENCH GAY FILMS
• MEET STT FRANTZ, AN OPENLY GAY NFL DRAFT PROSPECT WH A CHANCE TO MAKE HISTORY
• EXPLORE GAY ROOMS & RENTALS FRANZ JOSEF

REVIEW: A PERSECUTED GAY MAN FDS TE LIBERATN BETIFULLY BTERSWEET ‘GREAT FREEDOM’

But was bee he was gay? That Kafka was gay is speculative but not implsible. Atrian filmmaker Sebastian Meise’s tickg clock of a drama — regrettably missg om the Osr nome this year for ternatnal feature — crisscross the repeated imprisonments of a gay German man played by Franz Rogowski between the end of World War II and the emergence of a new gay outspokenns the late ’60s.

In that span of time, to be homosexual was to still feel shackled to the persecutn nightmare of Hler’s reign, bee while the German penal provisn that jailed gay men — Paragraph 175 — was passed 1871, and saw s most btal prosecutn durg the Nazi years, stayed on the books for s after the ’s 1968 when we meet Hans (Rogowski), who looks unfazed at beg tried and sentenced for havg sex wh men. When his cell door is opened to reveal an Amerin soldier, we learn that Hans is not gog ee, however, but rather beg sent to a jail to serve out the rt of his Paragraph 175 shockg realy for gay men om the mps — that the Allied liberatn did not clu them — is what spurred Meise and -screenwrer Thomas Reir to wre “Great Freedom. One of the film’s arcs is how he slowly breaks down Viktor’s homophobia over the years — a gentle mpaign of rg that go back to their meetg as cellmat 1945 and that Friedrich’s portrayal match steels and vulnerabily.

Homosexual partnerships, transgenr issu and diversy mt be re-evaluated on the basis of new unrstandgs of sexualy, Timmerevers wrote the book, published this week.

‘GREAT FREEDOM’ PROVIS A RAW, UNPROMISG LOOK AT THE PERSECUTN OF GAY MEN EAST GERMANY

He ntued: "The life experienc and ep feelgs of those who are homosexual or transgenr have touched me very eply. In dog so, Overbeck said, the pope had exprsed "a new form of appreciatn that n be the startg pot for a (lol church) re-evaluatn of homosexualy. " However, this velopment ran unter to the rejectn of blsgs for gay partnershipsissued by the Vatin's Congregatn for the Doctre of the Fah, Overbeck add.

Acrdg to current Catholic teachg, is not a s to have homosexual feelgs but sexual acts between people of the same genr are "trsilly disorred" and "ntrary to the natural law. In the book, lbian, gay, same-sex, bisexual, trans, ter, non-bary and other queer people scribe their experienc wh fah and the church.

Great Freedom tak s tle om the name of a nightclub that Hans Hoffmann (Trans’s Franz Rogowski) attends 1969 at the ncln of Sebastian Meise’s wrenchg drama (out now theaters)—an tablishment of unhibed homosexualy, now that Germany’s anti-gay Paragraph 175 statute has been relaxed. Rogowski’s turn is marvelo for beg so iled and yet so munitive, and no matter Hans’ persecutn and monizatn—cludg om fellow mat who object to his homosexualy—he rri himself wh unflappable nfince. A recent rint of a Nazi ncentratn mp, Hans has trad one tentn center for another, and he’s immediately placed a cell wh Viktor, who’s disgted at havg to share space wh a homosexual man.

DON’T OVERLOOK ATRIA’S GAY PRISON DRAMA ‘GREAT FREEDOM’ THE INTERNATNAL OSR RACE

In many s, LGBTQ+ ncentratn mp mat were simply transferred to prison ’s the most human sndal explored director Sebastian Meise’s Cann Un Certa Regard wner: Germany’s Paragraph 175, a provisn of a German crimal that reigned om 1871 to (shockgly) early 1994, crimalizg all homosexual acts between men.

The story is told through the ey and heavy, wearied soul of the fictnal Hans Hoffmann, who is repeatedly imprisoned over s post-World War II Germany for beg gay. IndieWire: What was your knowledge of Paragraph 175, terms of the crimalizatn of homosexualy Germany?

DON’T OVERLOOK ATRIA’S GAY PRISON DRAMA ‘GREAT FREEDOM’ THE INTERNATNAL OSR RACE

We me across the reports of gay men who were liberated om ncentratn mps and directly put to prison by the Alli, or put to prisons to serve their remag sentenc. We read that — was an article some book about beg gay Hamburg — and I uldn’t really believe . We talked about this wh a younger generatn of gay people; they also had no knowledge.

There’s a gay mm Berl, the Archive of the Memory. What we did Vienna, there’s an old gay fé, and there’s always some olr gay upl stg the back. It was such a taboo for them bee Atria and Germany, the state never acknowledged the fact that [beg gay] had been a this wasn’t abolished until the mid-1990s, what do you feel is the posn toward the Paragraph is Germany now?

WHO IS FRANZ GAYL, THE PENTAGON WORKER TAKG HEAT FOR OP-EDS CHE STATE MEDIA?

Mare and Pentagon whistleblower has had his secury clearance spend and is the target of an Amerin untertelligence vtigatn after he penned two op-eds Che state-n media Mare Corps nfirmed to the Washgton Post Friday that Franz Gayl, a 64-year-old retired major who served Iraq, is part of an "on-gog vtigatn" after he wrote two Global Tim opn was the reported whistleblower behd a May 2007 Wired magaze piece entled, "Milary Dragged Feet on Bomb-Proof Vehicl, " which sparked ntroversy and ngrsnal heargs at the time. Then-Delaware Democratic Senator Joe Bin praised Gayl 2007 for his whistleblower efforts. Gayl has sce worked as a science adviser to the Mare Corps and recently returned om Iraq after helpg the U.

ANTEL, FRANZ, 1913-2007. OTTO IST F FREN SCHARF, ALSO KNOWN AS OTTO, THE GAY LOTHAR. ATRIA, GERMANY (WT), 1968., 1968.

""I knew would get everybody's attentn, and man, did , " Gayl told The Washgton Post on Friday after nservative U.

Outlets as well as Beijg state-n media promoted his two opn April 27 op-ed by Gayl was published by the Che state-n outlet Global Tim and featured the headle, "Why the U. If the US elects to fight Cha over the island of Taiwan, then will lose, " Gayl wrote. Reprentativ wh both the Pentagon and the Mare Corps told the Washgton Post Friday that they uld not provi tails about the "on-gog vtigatn" to Gayl.

But the ary spokpeople said Gayl's opn piec were not submted for required prepublitn review and are not reprentative of U. "If we don't talk about this now, we are gog to sleepwalk to this nflict, " Gayl said of a potential ary actn between the Uned Stat and Cha. "Global Tim edors mocked Amerin officials for the reported vtigatn to Gayl separate opn piec published this weekend.

10 GREAT FRENCH GAY FILMS

Germany has been churng out gay hs for nearly a century.

Here, 11 gay movi, om the dramatic to the edic, om the absurd to the touchg, om the Weimer Republic to unified Berl, straight out of Germany.

MEET STT FRANTZ, AN OPENLY GAY NFL DRAFT PROSPECT WH A CHANCE TO MAKE HISTORY

Madchen Uniform ("Girls Uniform"), 1931: While homosexualy was simply allud to the aforementned flicks, was on full display Madchen Uniform, the tale of a boardg school girl who falls for her teacher. Anrs als du und Ich ("Different From You and Me"), 1957: Not to be nfed wh the siarly gay 1919 movie Anrs als die Anrn ("Different om the Others"), this mid-20th Century narrative revolv around rich kid Kls's affair wh a lower-class peer named Maned. And drama also ensued when the picture me out -- not only were nservativ displeased wh the gay ntent, early gay activists were livid over an endg which, spoiler alert, Kls is "cured" of his homosexualy.

Nicht r Homosexuelle ist pervers, sonrn die Suatn, r er lebt ("It Is Not The Homosexual Who Is Perverse, But The Society In Which He Liv"), 1971: Perhaps one of the most ntroversial gay featur ever to e out of Germany, or anywhere else, this mouthful of a movie and s portrayal of gay men as shallow, fashn-obssed, limp wristed weaklgs created such a stir that the viotaped cricisms om gay activists nstute their own short. It's lled "Audience Rponse to It's not the Homosexual... "Nicht r Homosexuelle ist pervers, sonrn die Suatn, r er lebt (GAYfilm 1971)Zum Film:...

EXPLORE GAY ROOMS & RENTALS FRANZ JOSEF

Fstrecht r Freihe ("Fox and His Friends"), 1975: Inic New Cema filmmaker Raer Werner Fassbr directed, wrote, and starred this story of a gay man who falls for a wealthy heir. Taxi zum Klo ("Taxi to the John", or "Taxi to the Toilet"), 1981: Frank Ripploh's semi-tobgraphil drama about a prim and proper school teacher wh a hardre after-hours sex life was groundbreakg and sensatnal for s time, and ed remas a cult classic (and one of the sexit gay films acrdg to director John Cameron Mchell). -- premiered the very night the Berl Wall Out (1989) Trailer | Heer CarowReportedly the first film to e out of East Germany to al openly wh gay issu.

Lola und Bilidikid (Lola and Billy The Kid), 1999: Wrer/Director Kutlug Ataman had hoped to film this story of a young man tryg to rencile his homosexualy wh Islam Turkey, the ma character's fay's homeland, but he uldn't shore up enough support. Instead, Sherry Hormann's rom- tackl homophobia sports by stg Maxiian Bckner as Ecki, a closeted soccer player who back strong after beg booted om his team for beg gay. It was nclud that Schubert had strong homoerotic experienc and that homosexualy was not a taboo this subculture.